Chapter 2

Avery’s POV

The Alpha’s presence filled the space in an instant. The rogues suddenly pulled back, releasing me.

I didn’t have a chance to see the chaos. All I heard were snarls and yelps, the scent of something powerful and terrifying filling the air.

“It’s an Alpha!” one shouted, the same one who had so boldly touched me just moments ago. “Run!!” I heard their footsteps pounding through the forest, fading into the distance until they were gone.

My head was spinning too much to collect my bearings. I pushed myself up against the stone, but my arms were too weak. Before I could try again, an arm circled around my waist, gently lifting me.

“Are you okay?” a low voice asked, helping me sit back on the rock.

I blinked, trying to focus, but my vision was too blurry at this point. All I saw was silky, raven-black hair pulled back into a bun and pale gray eyes. Ryan.

Relief washed over me, followed by a desire so intense it made my head spin even more. I let out a breath and threw my arms around his neck, slamming my mouth onto his.

The kiss was electric, unlike anything I’d experienced before. In an instant, it felt as if my sinews had lit aflame, like someone had struck a thousand and one matches under my skin. It was dizzying and perfect and I wanted more of it, so much more it almost made me sick to imagine not feeling him inside of me right this instant.

He stiffened, his hands flexing at my waist, and pulled back. Gray eyes searched mine. “And you are…?”

He said it like it was a question. I knew he was toying with me, and I giggled, cupping his stubbly cheek. “You know me, silly. We’re meant to be mates tonight.”

He cocked his head, then ran his hand down my hair, pinching it at the end. “Your hair…”

“You’re stalling.” I wrapped my hands around him, digging my nails into his shoulders, and fell back against the rock, pulling him with me so his palms slammed onto the stone on either side of me. My legs splayed to the sides, ready. “Please…” I rubbed my thighs together and cupped my breasts, nipples peaking through the lace. “I need you… Please…”

“You’re not thinking clearly.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t change the fact that I want you. I need you…”

A low growl rumbled from somewhere deep within him, deeper than I’d heard him before. His form went darker, silhouetted against the moonlight, as he crawled on top of me and placed himself between my legs.

“If I do this,” he said, “I won’t be able to hold back when it’s time to mark you.”

“Good. I want this. I want you.”

Gray eyes pulled back just enough to look at me. His lips parted, something forming on the tip of his tongue. A question, perhaps. But then he shook his head and dipped down again, slanting his mouth over mine.

We removed the layers of fabric between us with careful movements. My fingers were too clumsy to get all of his buttons undone, but he gently caught my wrist, pressing kisses to the pulse point with one hand while the other undid the buttons for me.

He removed his doublet first, a dark black with even blacker threads woven throughout, followed by the loose black tunic underneath. Perfect muscles under tanned skin gleamed in the moonlight, flexing slightly under my touch as I splayed my fingers across his chest.

Once we were both fully disrobed, nothing but skin against skin, he gently settled himself over me. His fingers found my entrance warm and ready, carefully swirling around the sensitive bud until I was nearly crying out with desire.

Then, and only then, did he sweep into me with one slow, long movement. The first prick of pain quickly dissolved into pleasure, then something deeper and more intimate. My body became filled with warmth, my skin tingling everywhere he touched, everywhere he put his mouth, and for a moment, just a moment, I swore…

The air had gone bright silver around us.

“Stay with me,” he whispered. His fingers tangled in the strands of my hair, gently, as he began to move. Slow, long thrusts, all the way to the tip and then all the way to the hilt, perfectly timed and careful and so, so perfect.

As his pace picked up, I threw my head back and cried into the night. He wrapped both arms around my waist and tugged me up into his lap, where I rocked back and forth, our bodies moving in tandem like we had done this a million times before. He held me impossibly close, the world turning silver and blue as the moon shone full and bright above us.

It was a dance I’d dreamed of so many times before, on so many lonely nights when all I had were my thoughts for company. And now, it was real and perfect and far more than I had ever imagined, and I didn’t want to let go, and neither did he.

Our mouths met as his thrusts grew frenzied, his voice rumbling into my throat without pulling back.

“Mate… You are my… mate… finally…”

I curled my fingers into his raven hair, pulling it loose from its knot so it fell against his shoulders and into his face. He pressed his forehead to mine and shut my eyes, and just as we reached our edge together, at the precipice of something exquisite, I tilted my head to the side, moving my hair out of the way.

There was no need for words. We both knew what was coming next.

We’d been waiting for it for two years, after all.

His mouth cupped around my throat, right where my neck met my shoulder. My fingers curled into the hairs at the nape of his neck, and I braced myself, drawing in a sharp breath at the first prick.

The last thing I remembered before the world went impossibly bright and wide and open, was the feeling of his fangs sinking into my flesh as I looked up at the moon overhead. It seemed bigger than before, brighter, as if the Goddess herself was smiling down on us.

Then, the world narrowed, the moon winked out, and a warm and pleasant darkness took hold of me.

…

I woke to the feeling of warmth on my cheek.

The sun had come up, washing the clearing in shades of yellow and gold. My body felt pleasantly loose and satisfied, and for a moment I just laid there on the rock, letting the warmth seep into my skin.

Slowly, I rolled onto my back and smiled, looking up at the sky as the blue filtered through the leaves overhead.

My hand instinctively reached out for Ryan as memories of last night surfaced. He’d been so strong and swift when he drove away those rogues, every bit the Alpha I knew he was; and when he took me there on that rock, he’d been gentler than I expected, handling me with all the tender care of a lover.

It was everything I’d hoped for and more. At least, what I could remember of it. I was certain the details would come to me soon, once I was fully awake.

And yet, as I reached for him, my hand found nothing.

I turned my head, looking over to find that I was alone. The slab of stone was warm from the sun beside me, but no one was there.

My smile faded. I propped myself up on my elbows, furrowing my brow. Perhaps it had been a dream; it was all such a blur, the details too messy and winding together to make out fully.

But if it had been a dream, what happened to the rogues? Had that been a dream, too? And where was Ryan?

My mind immediately went to the moments I remembered the most clearly—looking up at the Blue Moon overhead, feeling the warmth of a mouth clamping around my neck. The stinging pain of fangs sinking into my flesh, followed by that all-consuming feeling of completeness as a bond snapped into place.

The moments that had followed had been a haze, the emotions of it all too much to bear. I didn’t remember anything else.

I took a breath and looked down now, expecting to find my neck bare and unmarked, revealing that it had been a dream after all.

But there was a mark there. Swollen and fresh and utterly real.